Official presentation in Rome of Aid to the Church in Need Religious Freedom in the World Report.

Afternoon panel on “Religious Freedom in the West – Cultural Crisis or Silent Persecution?”

Experts in law, media, and human rights reflect on the growing challenges to faith and freedom in Europe and beyond. Includes a personal testimony from Shagufta Kausar, sentenced to death in Pakistan for alleged blasphemy.

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Official presentation in Rome of Aid to the Church in Need Religious Freedom in the World Report, with a keynote address by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness.

Report findings presented by Marta Petrosillo, Editor-in-Chief.

Followed by the panel “Persecuted but Not Forgotten – Voices from the Suffering Church”, with Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (Nigeria), Archbishop Jacques Mourad (Syria), and Archbishop Linus Neli (India), sharing first-hand experiences of faith under pressure.

Session closes with the testimony of Mariam Ibrahim, sentenced to death in Sudan for her Christian faith.

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This year we commemorate the centenary of the apparitions to the children at Fatima of Our Lady, who is the Patron of Aid to the Church in Need.

ACN Malta is urging the faithful to increase devotion to the Madonna by saying the Holy Rosary to pray for the conversion of mankind, offering sacrifices in atonement for our sins and asking Mary to intercede for us before God for peace in the world. The Madonna told us herself: “At last my heart without stain will triumph.”

On the occasion of the Fatima centenary and to mark  70 years since the establishment of the international Pontifical charitable foundation Aid to the Church in Need, ACN (Malta) will offer the loan of a  statue of Our Lady of Fatima for a week. This is available to all Maltese families who wish to have it in their homes so they can pray together in its presence for family unity, world peace and for our persecuted brethren.

ACN Malta

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Pope Francis met with representatives of indigenous peoples who were in Rome for the Third Indigenous Peoples’ Forum. The Forum was organised by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its foundation this year. The aim of the forum was to identify ways of giving greater economic empowerment to indigenous peoples.

 “I believe the essential problem is how to reconcile the right to development, including social and cultural development, with the protection of the particular characteristics of indigenous peoples and their territories,” said Pope Francis, stressing that “this is evident especially when economic activities are structured that can interfere with indigenous cultures and their ancestral relation with the earth.”

In this context the Pope said the right to previous and informed consensus should prevail, as provided in Article 32 of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. ”Only thus, is it possible to ensure a peaceful collaboration between the government authorities and indigenous peoples, overcoming confrontation and conflict.”

A second aspect Francis mentioned was the development of guidelines and plans “which take into account the indigenous identity, with special attention to young people and women.” He stressed that this meant “not only considering them, but including them!”

The Pope urged Governments to “recognize that indigenous communities are a component of the population that should be appreciated and consulted, and whose full participation should be promoted at the local and national level.”

In this way, Francis said, IFAD can contribute effectively with its funding and expertise while bearing in mind that “a technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be considered progress” (Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 194).

ACN Malta

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Years of civil war, a refugee crisis and a collapsing economy have taken their toll on South Sudan, which only gained its independence in 2011. Since early 2017, parts of South Sudan have been experiencing a famine following several years of instability in the country’s food supply caused by war and drought.

On Monday, 20 Feb the South Sudan government officially declared a famine in different parts of the country. Aid agencies say 100,000 people are on the verge of starvation and almost 5 million people, more than 40% of the country’s population, need urgent help. The UN World Food Programme warned that more than a million children are already suffering from acute malnutrition.The famine is largely focused in the northern part of the country but food shortages are expected to spread by the middle of this year.

“Our worst fears have been realized,” said Serge Tissot, of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive.”

Farming was disrupted by the war, forcing people to scavenge for food to survive. “People have been pushed to the brink, [they are] surviving on what they can find to eat in swamps,” said Emma Jane Drew, humanitarian program manager in South Sudan for Oxfam .

Pope Francis has issued an urgent appeal, saying that is imperative that food aid reaches those on the verge of dying from starvation in South Sudan right away:

“Of particular concern is the painful news coming from the battered southern Sudan, where a fratricidal conflict is compounded by a severe food crisis, which, through starvation, condemns to death millions of people, including many children.”

“At this time it is more necessary than ever, that everyone commits not just to making statements, but to providing concrete food aid and allowing that it can reach suffering populations. May the Lord sustain these brothers and those working to help them.”

George Fominyen, the UN food programme spokesman in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, said the problem had been building for years: “It has not been sudden. Food insecurity, hunger, malnutrition has been getting steadily worse since the conflict started three years ago.”

Fomiyen warned that the programme’s food supplies will run out unless it can secure “a substantial injection of funds” — $205 million — within the next six months.

“We are quite concerned that we do not have the resources,” he said. “We could run out of food by the end of June. The needs are so huge.”

Fomiyen added that humanitarian groups had found it extremely difficult to reach the hardest-hit areas. Aid agencies say the famine is “a man-made tragedy” and called for an end to the fighting so aid could get through to those most in need.

ACN Malta

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A coalition of mainly Christian UK-based charities working in Iraq and Syria warned that leaders of religious minority communities are being excluded from the National Settlement plan for northern Iraq being put together by Iraq and other regional powers and presented to the UN. Exclusion of Christians from the reconstruction plans will further reduce the likelihood of their return once Islamic State has been militarily defeated.

The 16 NGOs produced an 88-page report, Ensuring Equality , which shows how vital it is for Christians and other minority populations to receive support for their political and security concerns. They need to be reassured of their safety before they can return to Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh Plains region, rebuild their communities and undertake any reconciliation process. “This must include full citizenship status and the rebuilding of churches and community centres,” says the report.

The charities who contributed to the Report include Aid to the Church in Need, the Assyrian Church of the East Relief Fund, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Syrian Christians for Peace, the Evangelical Christian Alliance Church in Lebanon and the Alliance Church of Jordan.

Sources closer to Iraq share the UK charities’ fears. The Al-Monitor news website believes that the viability of the project for Iraqi national reconciliation, outlined in December in the “National Settlement” document, is threatened by its exclusion of the country’s minority populations, including Assyrian Christians.

Christian Iraqi MPs have also expressed concern that minorities are being ignored. Yonandam Kanna, secretary-general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, said that the Settlement did not include any clause determining the fate of disputed minority areas, control of which is sought by Arab Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region – such as the Nineveh Plains for the Christians and Shabaks.

He added: “Minorities do not have a say in this and they are not even allowed to determine their own fate. The settlement does not take into account the views of Christians or Yazidis, or any other less influential minority groups.”

Mr. Kanna has previously criticised the national reconciliation projects put forward by the larger political groups for failing to provide guarantees that people who have committed atrocities against minorities, such as Yazidis and Christians, would be brought to justice.

Another Christian Iraqi MP told a conference in Washington DC last summer that the Iraqi Parliament “does not take minorities into account”.

Last month the Russian Foreign Minister accused the European Union of “avoid[ing] the discussion on the problems of Christians in the Middle East [by] putting itself under the infamous mask of political correctness”.

ACN Malta

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PREAMBLE

We, the Clergy, Religious and Laity of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, welcome you to the Cathedral of St Peter Clavers. We are here to present to the world, the pains, agony and sorrows that have befallen us in this part of the State, the Southern Senatorial Zone of Kaduna State.

Unfortunately, this crisis of tremendous proportion is happening at the time when, our Chief Shepherd, Most Rev Joseph Bagobiri is far away, outside the shores of this country attending to his health. This is the time when Southern Kaduna looks up to him for leadership but he is not here.

The entire Presbyterium, Religious, the Laity and indeed the entire Southern Kaduna indigenes are united in prayers for him. May God heal him speedily and bring him back to the Diocese soon.

In the last weeks and months, we have become victims of systematic attacks orchestrated by another version of Boko Haram, who also go by the name ‘Fulani Herdsmen’. This Militia, of the Fulani extraction is bent on pursuing an agenda that is aimed at subjugating the Southern Kaduna People, disintegrating the country, weakening the Gospel and grounding completely the social and economic life of our people. Suffice to State ab initio, that Southern Kaduna is no stranger to violence, perpetrated against it by Jihadists.

The first known recorded violence of a large scale dates as far back as 1987 when a group of Muslim youth unleashed violence on Christians during a Revival organized by the Christian students of the College of Education, Kafanchan. The charge was that a certain Pastor was quoting from the Bible and the Quran to press home his point. This infuriated the Muslim students who interpreted this as blasphemy and consequently unleashed terror on the Christian students.

This attack naturally spiraled and there was a backlash as reprisal attacks were carried out across the length and breadth of the state. In between the 1987 crisis and now, we have had some other attacks that were masterminded by our Muslim neighbors who have developed a penchant for war and hatred for peace. Suffice to mention in passing the Zangon Kataf crisis in 1992 and the 2011 post election crisis that claimed the lives of many people in Southern Kaduna.

The events of the past weeks and months are unfortunate and further confirm that there is a hidden agenda targeted at the Christian Majority of Southern Kaduna. This Jihad is well funded, well planned and executed by agents of destabilization. Thus, our voice is like that of the one at Ramah that refused to be consoled (Jeremiah 31:15). We are however assured by the words of Christ that not a hair of our head will be lost (Luke 21:18).

For the records, Southern Kaduna Senatorial District is made up of Eight (8) Local Government areas: Sanga, Jema’a, Kaura, Jaba, Zangon Kataf, Kagarko, Kachia, and Kauru. These Local governments are densely populated by Christians. This land, fertile and agrarian, is blessed with adequate rainfall enough to make our crops yield bounteously.

The beautiful hills and valleys are a sight to behold. It is this beautiful gift of God to the people of Southern Kaduna that our adversaries seek to covet by employing terrorism in order to occupy. Our Land and Faith have become the envy of our traducers and persecutors. The gift of the Christian faith found a place in the hearts of our forefathers hundreds of years ago and today we can boast of a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ represented by the many denominations in Southern Kaduna and an army of Ministers of the Gospel who today have been elevated by God to various offices.

It is a fact, that Southern Kaduna today is the oasis of vocations as 70% of the ministers of the Gospel from Kaduna state are of Southern extraction. This Faith and Gift, we are prepared to defend and guard even if it means dying for it. For who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Is it trials? Or persecution? Or the sword? Yet in all these, we are conquerors (Romans 8:35).

There is no better time than now to present this press release. We have had different groups in Southern Kaduna draw the attention of the world and government at different times by way of press releases since the eruption of the crisis. Most of it came at the peak of the attacks. Ours providentially is coming now, and regrettably still, the attacks have not abated. As we speak, villages and communities are being attacked daily by this militia. The worst hit Local Governments are Jema’a, Sanga, Kaura, and Kauru.

THE ISSUES

What started like a minor misunderstanding between Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farmers was badly handled and it soon took a different turn for the worse. Our people are largely farmers. They depend on their farms for sustenance. Our Farmers will labor all year round to cultivate their farms. The Fulani herdsmen will deliberately walk their cows into their farmlands.

The cows will naturally eat up the crops and destroy the farmlands. For families that depend on this, one can better imagine the negative impact. So when this happens, the farmer confronts the Fulani herdsmen to seek a peaceful resolution. Most times, this gesture is met with stiff resistance as the herdsmen would threaten the farmer or begins a violent fight. In most occasions, because the herdsmen are armed to the teeth, they deal a heavy blow to the local farmer that result in death. Tension mounts and the indigenes would want to avenge the death of their loved one. This is the story all around and 99% of the intractable conflict between farmers and herdsmen are traceable to this.

It is therefore worrisome to us when a faceless group known as Concerned Southern Kaduna Muslims seek to distort the facts by way of twisting and misrepresenting the account to paint the minority Muslims of Southern Kaduna as the victims while the Christian majority are the aggressors. This is far from the truth! Of all the violence that took place in Southern Kaduna, hardly was any masterminded by the indigenes. Or how could you explain the importation of heavily armed militia to prosecute the war on behalf of the Fulani? The mere presence of this killer squad is enough evidence and indictment of the Fulani as the masterminds of these crises.

We present to you, in graphic details, statistics of the recent crisis in Southern Kaduna. Judge for yourselves and see who the aggressor is:

STATISTICS

1. Number of LGC’s attacked: 4

2. Number of Villages attacked: 53

3. Number of deaths: 808

4. Number of injured: 57

5. Number of houses, shops, churches & other properties destroyed: 1,422 houses, 16 Churches, 19 shops, 1 primary school, 5 cars.

Note: A conservative estimate of farmlands destroyed, food stuff burnt is estimated at 5.5 billion Naira.

GOVERNMENT’S BIASES IN HANDLING THE CRISES AND OUR GRIEVANCES

The primary responsibility of government as enshrined in the constitution is the protection of life and property of citizens irrespective of ethnic and/or religious persuasion. Any breach of this fundamental principle of social contract contravenes the very reason for which the contract was entered into.

Unfortunately, our government both at the Centre and State levels have failed woefully. If anything, government has shown outright partisanship in favor of the herdsmen to the disappointment of the majority Southern Kaduna indigenes and Christians. This is what lends credence to our earlier assertion and belief that there is a well planned Jihad against our people with the sole aim of conquering our people and occupying our land. We have been disappointed in the way the soldiers have been manipulated or railroaded to favor the Muslims. In most of these attacks, the military stands aloof and watches while our people are being massacred.

The viciousness of these self styled Jihadists sends shivers into the spines of our traumatized people. In the Godogodo and Pasakori attacks for example, the military merely watched and supervised the burning of our homes. When the youth mobilized to repel the attackers, the soldiers deliberately blocked them from entering the town. The herdsmen and their ilk turned the towns into killing fields and killed mostly women, children and the elderly who couldn’t run for cover.

The level of barbarity was such that pregnant women got their wombs blown out and massacred before their children. And these innocent children were not spared either. This level of viciousness was never witnessed even in the brutal tyranny and regime of Adolf Hitler.

What is most intriguing is the level of sophistication of weapons; Ak 47, Machine Guns and many other deadly instruments of death were freely used. Some questions readily come to mind and need answers:

1. Who are those behind these attacks?

2. How do they get their funding?

3. Who supplies these arms to these terrorists?

4. In Birnin Gwari, the Fulanis themselves have come under heavy attacks by cattle rustlers. It didn’t take the government of El Rufai time to figure out what to do.

Within the shortest possible time, soldiers were deployed and many of the cattle rustlers and bandits were either killed or arrested and cows in their hundreds were rescued. This is commendable and we are happy that the Fulanis in Birnin Gwari have been rescued from these bandits. If the government can deploy helicopters and soldiers to Birnin Gwari to help in tracking down the terrorists, why is the same government unwilling to deploy the same soldiers and helicopters to Southern Kaduna to help flush out the Fulani herdsmen terrorizing indigenes of Southern Kaduna? Why is government silent and not proactive in the face of these attacks?

OUR PRAYERS/DEMANDS

We unequivocally make the following demands:

1. Immediate cessation of hostilities by the warring parties.

2. A commission of inquiry be put in place to look into the remote and proximate causes of this crisis. Membership must be evenly drawn between both parties.

3. All perpetrators and sponsors of these evil must be fished out and punished accordingly no matter how highly placed.

4. We demand immediate release of Southern Kaduna youth and leaders unjustly detained by various security agencies for trumped up charges.

5. Provision of relief materials to victims of the attacks in Southern Kaduna be made a priority.

6. Compensation to all families that suffered losses of dear ones and properties.

7. Communities overrun by Fulani herdsmen and now under occupation by same must be vacated and their owners returned to their homes and farmlands immediately.

8. That the governor of Kaduna state, immediately retracts the tweet he sent some time ago wherein he wrote “anyone who kills a Fulani man takes a loan repayable in no distant future” We view this reckless statement as a tacit support of the herdsmen which emboldens them against the indigenous farmers. The life of indigenous farmers is equally precious, sacred, and sacrosanct.

9. We reject Gov El Rufai’s proposal of spending N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Naira only) to repair/renovate burnt places of worship. We suspect the motives and question the sincerity of such moves. Rather a comprehensive list of families that suffered losses be given expedited attention by way of assistance to rebuild their homes and return to them.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we call on Southern Kaduna indigenes to remain steadfast in prayer, united, strong and never to cave in to the antics of our adversaries. Tribe and denominational differences shouldn’t put a chasm between us.

Let us remain focused and vigilant. St Peter admonishes us to “be alert, be on the watch! Your enemy the devil roams round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that your fellow believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings. But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to share his eternal glory in union with Christ, will himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation. (I Peter 5;8-10). God watches over his children and He will continue to protect us.

We welcome our Fulani neighbors who are desirous of living in peace with their host communities. We encourage both the Southern Kaduna indigenes and our Fulani visitors to tow the path of peace and eschew violence. We however reserve the right for self defense in the face of attacks brought against us by any unjust aggressor. The principle of self defense is not alien to our teaching. We have a sacred duty and obligation to protect the life God has given us. This right is inalienable!

Southern Kaduna indigenes are peace loving People. We welcome any such good initiative by government aimed at bringing development and equitable distribution of wealth to all citizens of the state. We abhor any attempt to regard our people as second class citizens.

Any such attempt to forcefully take over our lands under any guise will be resisted. Our Fulani brothers, like their indigenous compatriots, should seek better and modern ways of promoting their business. This should not be at the detriment and expense of our people.

We are for peace. We are for equal rights. We are for justice. We are for development.

God bless Nigeria!

God bless Kaduna State!

God bless Southern Kaduna!

Signed:

Very Rev. Fr Ibrahim Yakubu – Vicar General, Dio of Kaf

Very Rev Fr Emmanuel Okolo – Chancellor, Dio of Kaf

Very Rev. Fr Aaron Tanko – JDPC Coordinator, Dio of Kaf

Very Rev. Fr Williams Abba – NCDPA Chairman, Dio of Kaf

Mr Joseph Bayei, KSJ, – President, Laity Council, Dio of Kaf

Please, pray for my people.

ACN Malta

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Closer ties between the Vatican and Beijing authorities are viewed with skepticism by many Chinese Catholic priests who, for the past 60 years, have been split between those who remain loyal to the Pope and others who are under the control of the Chinese authorities.

Chinese clergy fear that in the interest of maintaining good relations, the Vatican will accept a communist stranglehold over China’s Catholics. Among the main opponents of the recent agreement is the respected Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, who believes the agreement risks abandoning those believers who are loyal to the Vatican and amounts to a deal with the devil which will  give the Communist control of the Church.

“Communism is a terrible totalitarian regime and people who haven’t experienced that find it difficult to understand that,” Zen said. He added that Pope Francis “wants to make peace with everybody, that’s very good, but sometimes I think the reality is cruel”.

Vatican authorities “say they hope that by this agreement, the people may live their faith peacefully,” Zen said. “But if there is no freedom, there is no peace.”

Zen called the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) members “puppets of the government” who have profited from their positions. CPCA is an association established in 1957 by the People’s Republic of China’s Religious Affairs Bureau to exercise state supervision over mainland China’s Catholics. In 1958, Pope Pius XII deplored the attitude and activities of the Association and declared that bishops who participated in consecrating  new bishops selected by CPCA would be excommunicated

If the Vatican recognised CPCA, Zen fears Beijing could feel emboldened to “eliminate” the underground church, whose members would be left “desperate”.

Francesco Sisci, a researcher at Renmin University, has been following  the situation between China and the Vatican for decades. He believes that the split in the Catholic church in China is not just political but is also part of a power struggle. “The Catholic church is split between factions that hate each other,” he said. “In the same area, you have two bishops rivalling for power, for money.”

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Two years after IS conquered Mosul, some of the city’s Christians still live as refugees in St Mary’s Church in Amman, Jordan – one of several churches in the Jordanian capital that opened its doors to terrified refugees who arrived with nothing but the clothes they wore. The church provides meals for hundreds of refugees on Fridays and Sundays and opened a school for the children with women from the local community making uniforms.

Displaced Christian families living in Amman, wonder what will happen next. Even now,as Iraqi forces and their allies launch a major offensive to reclaim Mosul, their prospects of returning appear bleak.

“There is no hope for them in Iraq” says Father Khalil Jaar, who has spent the past two years helping refugees fleeing from Iraq and Syria. He refuses to turn away those in need, whatever their religion: “We have a new arrival almost every week. We have families arriving from Mosul, Erbil and Baghdad.”

Fr Khalil says he draws strength from the spirit and resolve of the refugees in spite of the death and violence that has engulfed the region in the past few years. “Perhaps Christianity will disappear from the Middle East,” he adds.

“We don’t have a temple, our churches have been destroyed, but it doesn’t matter — our heart is the temple of the Lord and so wherever we go, we have to live our faith.”

One of the Mosul refugees echoes his sentiment:  “They are trying to wipe out all our history, ….  It is why they forced us out. But they don’t know that in our hearts we will remain Iraqis, and our grandchildren will always say they are from Mosul.”

The liberation of Mosul from IS will be a long process that is estimated to take several months. However, even in smaller towns in the Nineveh Plain that have already been recaptured from IS, the situation remains volatile and it is uncertain when and if the Christian residents who fled to Jordan and Kurdistan will be able to return.

NPU spokesman Athra Kado said “After ISIS, it became one of my life goals to reach our towns, because it’s like we lost with each Assyrian town [taken by ISIS] a part of our body.” The NPU is one of a number of Christian militias operating in Iraq, but it is the only one to be official isotretinoinonlinebuy.com/ recognised and supported by the Iraqi government.

Although Qaraqosh – also known by its Assyrian name Baghdeda – was liberated three weeks ago and the majority of IS militants forced out or killed, the people of Qaraqosh are still not able to return. Sporadic gunfire is still going on as Iraqi troops search houses for hiding jihadists and detonated explosives left behind by IS fighters and the town is in ruins.

 “It was like a disaster,” Kado says of Qaraqosh. “The buildings were crushed, most of the houses burned, the church was – and is – still in a very bad way. But of these two sides, happiness and sadness, it was more like happiness. We can rebuild. It’s the work of hundreds of years, and ISIS came in two years and broke everything, but we can rebuild.”

Kado believes it will be several months before the region is secure and Christians can return home as “the town is not 100 per cent cleared from IEDs [improvised explosive devices], or from bombs, so it is still not safe for civilians.”  but Christian soldiers are desperate to take back their towns from IS: “It [the Nineveh Plain, before ISIS] felt like the only place in the word that we were safe, but even that place was taken from us. Now, we’re trying to get it back.”

Hamdaniya , a once-tranquil town populated mostly by Christians lies in ruins after almost two years of occupation by Islamic State.  Almost all its125,000 residents left the town to escape from ISIS in August 2014. Most of them are still in refugee camps,  grappling with the immensity of the destruction in the area after it was liberated recently by Iraqi-led coalition forces.

At least 70 percent of the town was destroyed by IS. Residential areas have been reduced to ashes, commercial stores looted and demolished, and once-bustling streets now covered in debris. Many Christian churches are also reduced to rubble, including the Mar Gorgis Church which was used by IS militants as a bomb factory and still contains stocks of missiles and piles of improvised explosive devices. Iraqi soldiers said that IS deliberately chose the church as its storage facility for explosives, thinking that it would not be targeted by airstrikes launched by other countries attempting to liberate Iraq because it was a sacred place.

ACN Malta

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